Darren Stevens' acquittal in February 2014 on a charge of failing to report a corrupt approach allowed him to put to bed an anxious winter and focus on continuing to be the all round mainstay of the Kent side. He swept the board at the 2013 Player of the Year event: best player, best, bowler, and best batsman. In his ninth season since moving from Leicester he scored over a thousand first class runs at 63, including 205 not out against Lancashire in September. Although he is regarded as a batting all-rounder he nevertheless gathered 32 wickets in the County Championship. No Kent player scored more runs in T20 cricket, and he needed only 44 balls to score a century against Sussex in the YB40.

Stevens made his debut for Leicestershire in 1997 at the age of 21, but it was not until 1999 that he played his fourth Championship match, and he marked the occasion by scoring 130 against Sussex at Arundel where his innings received the seal of approval of the watching Lord Cowdrey. Even so, his appearances remained spasmodic until middle-order batsmen like Aftab Habib and Ben Smith left the county. He took his chance, impressing many good judges with his clean striking of the ball - earning himself a place in the National Academy squad to go to Australia in 2002-03 and also making the final 30 for that winter's World Cup. After two relatively lean seasons, he left Leicestershire to join Kent at the end of 2004, and was an instant hit scoring an impressive 1277 runs in his first season at Canterbury.

At that stage of his career, bowling was very much Stevens' second string. With Kent coming to rely more and more on his medium-pace, however, he developed into a genuine county all-rounder and took the new ball - with plenty of success - during the first half of the 2011 season. Add bowling ability to serious batting power and it was no surprise to see him recruited for T20 cricket by sides in both Bangladesh and New Zealand. Back at Canterbury, Stevens became hugely popular with Kent supporters and passed 10,000 first-class runs in his two-club career.

Why was it that Australia put in such a hazy performance in a match that mattered so much? Of the two teams they are the more experienced, the more used to winning and entering this week the more confident

Australia's selectors and management have been accused of being too harsh on Brad Haddin but the team's horrible display at Edgbaston suggests that they may actually have been too lenient, and not just on him

Australia's selectors and management have been accused of being too harsh on Brad Haddin but the team's horrible display at Edgbaston suggests that they may actually have been too lenient, and not just on him

Why was it that Australia put in such a hazy performance in a match that mattered so much? Of the two teams they are the more experienced, the more used to winning and entering this week the more confident